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However, I'm having a problem with getting my branding and website together. I've been thinking about this for weeks now, and still haven't come to a conclusion.These are my options.

1. Start a personal website (www.ChrisKilbourn.com).

Pro- The work I put towards my personal brand will follow me throughout my career.Con- My last name is very difficult to remember and spell correctly.

2. Start a company/personal website (www.ChopChopMarketing.com). A great example of this is Neil Patel's website www.quicksprout.com)

Pro- Easy name to remember. The brand would be in good position if it were to became a company with multiple employees in the future.Con- I'm building a brand for two names (mine and Chop Chop Marketing), which would be a pain. Additionally, people may get confused with the two brands being on the same website.

3. Start a company website (www.ChopChopMarketing.com) and focus on the company's brand.

Pro- Easy name to remember. Larger firms may be more interested in hiring a company rather than an individual (not entirely sure about this). The brand would be in good position if it were to became a company with multiple employees in the future.Con- If the company fails (or if I get hired at a different firm), my work towards building a brand down the road would be less valuable.

I've already purchased both of these domains. So, there's no problem with availability.

4 Responses

This is one of those things where there is no right or wrong answer and it really depends on your plans. In my case, I started out wanting a big company, so pushed forward with my company branding, Bowler Hat (white hat, black hat, red hat linux, uk tech seo guy so Bowler Hat - BowlerHat.co.uk) but really, as time has gone on, whilst I have a small company, most people want to work with me, not for me to farm stuff out so it is a bit of both for me.

It just depends, if you want to do the lone gun thing, build the personal brand, if you want to take it beyond you and build a business, then go with the business branding.

If you are unsure, build it around your name and if people search with a misspelling, Google will know and correct them anyhow.

At the end of the day, you are always going to be you, so the personal site will serve you well, but the business or brand may never happen so work with what you have got and then if you come up to a fork in the road, then change things up then.

A typically rambling and incoherant response but I hope it provides some help. :)

I like your business brand and ,yes, the spelling of your last name is difficult to remember.

Therefore, instead of forming two separate brands, I think you should build your business brand and personal brand as one. To avoid confusion, you should link your personal brand to the business brand.

This will enable you to refer others to your business brand via your business domain or to refer others to your personal brand via your personal domain.

Another words, go with the business brand and when you have successfully built your business brand your personal brand will also reap the rewards.

For example: If I knew Rand Fishkin (the owner of this company), and I wanted to utilize his services, but I couldn't remember the name of his business I can enter his personal name in You Tube and his business video is the 1st video that appears in the search.

Another bit of valuable advice: Make sure you have a valuable keyword in your domain name.

For example: I found out about SEO Moz during a conference, when I wanted to view the site I didn't recall the exact name, although, it wasn't difficult to find because I remembered SEO was in the name and located this site immediately because of that important keyword in the business name.

Marketing is a good keyword, but I'd do some keyword research and see how many other companies have marketing in their business names.

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